1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a display device used to display an image, and, more specifically, a signal and power interconnect for a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic display systems are commonly used to display information from computers and other sources. Typical display systems range in size from small displays used in mobile devices to very large displays that are used to display images to thousands of viewers at one time. Tiled display walls provide a large-format environment for presenting large high-resolution images by synchronizing and coupling together the output from multiple distinct imaging systems. Such large displays may be created by tiling a plurality of smaller display devices together. For example, the video walls frequently seen in the electronic media typically use multiple display modules, such as flat-panel displays, which are tiled to create such large displays.
FIG. 1A illustrates a tiled wall display 100 configured to display an image 102, according to the prior art. The tiled wall display 100 includes display modules 104-1 through 104-9 that each is configured to display a different portion of the image 102. FIG. 1B illustrates the tiled wall display 100 of FIG. 1A in greater detail. As shown, each display module 104 is coupled to a power source 106, a controller 108, and a video signal source 110. A given display module 104 receives power from the power source 106 via a dedicated power cable 107, receives control signals from the controller 108 via a dedicated control cable 109, and receives a video signal from the video signal source 110 via a dedicated video cable 111. The video cable 111 is typically a rigid, expensive, and heavy digital video interconnect (DVI) cable.
One drawback of this approach is that operation of the tiled wall display 100 requires numerous cables, as illustrated by FIG. 1B. Since each display module receives a power cable 107, control cable 109, and a video cable 111, the tiled wall display 100 must be coupled to at least 27 separate cables in order to function. Such a configuration may be cumbersome to assemble and to maintain, and, additionally, may be difficult to troubleshoot if a malfunction occurs with one of the cables or display modules 104.
Another drawback of the approach described above is that DVI cables are bulky and have a high bending radius, making the tiled wall display 100 difficult to assemble and to maintain. In addition, DVI cables alone cannot be used to perform alignment and/or diagnostic operations involving the display modules 104. Typically, an additional cable must be coupled to each display device 104 when performing such operations. Coupling extra cables to the tiled wall display 100 when the tiled wall display 100 is already installed may be difficult and time-consuming.
As the foregoing illustrates, there is a need in the art for a tiled display system having a simpler cabling topology than prior art designs.